Epstein Secrets

rian president Bashar al-Assad's top security grandees during a national- security headquarters meeting in Damascus, a suicide bomber in Bulgaria's Black Sea resort city of Burgas set himself off near an Israeli tourist bus, killing five Israelis and wounding scores of others. EFTA_R1_00537947 EFTA0202

ih Idiz August/10/2012 -- Syria has made a mockery of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's "zero problems with neighbors" policy. Just two years ago Ankara was going out of its way to court Bashar al-Assad, in apparent defiance of the West. It was also courting Iran in a similar fashion at the time. A

y the city, a show of strength or simply a routine rotation of Russian military equipment. Russia has many military facilities in Crimea, where its Black Sea fleet is based, and the area has stronger historical ties to Russia than to Ukraine's central government in Kiev. While promising to defend the int

li nuclear weapon. As for the Sunni-Shiite arms race, the critical reaction to an international agreement would be not in Washington but in Cairo, Ankara and Riyadh. Even if the Western powers express confidence in Iran's commitment and pledge a vigorous economic and military response to any Iranian

nd to the world. The attack in Burgas was despicable. The Israeli tourists had just arrived at the city's airport and were boarding a bus for the Black Sea coast. A young man wearing a disguise tracked the tourists' movements, placed a bag with an explosive device in the cargo compartment of the bus an

ing Afghanistan and Iraq and for killing and wounding over a million people." Conversations with senior Turkish political operatives familiar with Ankara's political culture and negotiating style suggest a three-part explanation: frustration with the long EU accession process, bluffing, and the need